Cradle
by Ellie101
Summary: Jareth always gets what he wants, no matter what the price.
1. Cradle

"Cradle"

By Ellie

_**Disclaimer:**_ "Labrinth" is NOT MINE! ;)

* * *

Sarah's baby gurgled in her tiny crib. Her mother was tossing and turning in the bed besides her, dreaming of endless darkness and vicious soldiers taking her husband captive. She moaned as blood dripped down Ryan's agonized face as a shadowed figure murdered him. A small cry woke her. 

Baby Jessie began to cry, and in the fashion of mothers everywhere Sarah rose rapidly from sweaty sheets to reassure her.

Her voice sliced smoothly through the velvet shadow. "Hush, Sweetie. Hush, my darling... Mommy's here."

Baby Jessie heard the comfort in Sarah's words, felt the envelope of love in her mother's arms, and allowed herself to be rocked back to sleep and settled in her cradle.

Sarah brushed the wispy brown hairs out of Jessie's eyes and watched her child slumber. But Jessie's amber eyes never opened, nor did her tiny form move--apart from the gentle rhythmic rise and fall of her chest.

Unable to return to sleep, Sarah sat in the worn rocking chair that had been her great-grandmother's and looked out of the window and stared at nothing at all. Thought's tumbled in and out of her mind and worry for Ryan seemed so strong and terrifyingly real that she was almost afraid that she would choke from it. He was beyond her now. She had no way of knowing whether he was even alive.

Fear rose in floods until her dull green eyes brightened with the sheen of thousands of tears. Tears for her husband, and herself, but most of all, her darling Jessie. It tore through her, out of her, until she was gasping for breath and wrapping her arms around herself so tightly that her hands turned white. But her agony was silent. Jessie would never wake to the sound of her mother's pain. Of that, Sarah was certain.

Hours passed. Until finally, sleep stole Sarah away and the man in black appeared beside her. His eyes were cruel. His love, even more so. For he did love, though he often tried to hate her for it. Yes, his little Sarah had grown up, he thought bitterly. Grown and in love with another. He leaned down and observed her: his savior, his defeat. Still beautiful, not even exhaustion would steal that from her. Her eyelids may have been ringed in puffy gray, but he knew her eyes were the same. A green to tempt the finest of emeralds, and a light that drew his darkness. For what was he but darkness? For ten years he had watched her succumb to love. A love that equaled and surpassed any twisted emotion that he could possibly offer her.

So he had sat in silence, damning her for being happy; damning her for living without him when he could not breathe without her. He had thought that her suffering would make it easier, but he was wrong. It was far worse to watch her this way. To watch her light dampen and her spirit fade. She held on now, he knew, for the child. And for the hope she held for her husbands safe return; hope that he knew would soon die.

He brushed a lock of silken hair off of Sarah's sleeping face and walked to the cradle. In it lay Sarah's baby. In it lay innocence. His smile was icy and brittle as he mockingly rocked the little cradle with his fingertips. "You will be lovely, my dear. You, with your mother's face and your father's eyes. You will be her saving grace."

His eyes burned bright as he continued, "And you will be her downfall."

Smiling his broken smile, Jareth picked up the silent child and swung her around. "For that, I could almost love you."

Baby Jessie stared into the chilling darkness of his face and felt a prick; pain blossomed and she opened her mouth to cry but instead fell instantly into a well of enchanted sleep.

Jareth whispered the words into her blood-pricked finger and delighted in the magic that drained into the sleeping child. She was his now. And soon, soon her mother would be too.

He settled Jessie back into the cradle with practiced ease and frowned. With her eyes closed, with the maddening amber tucked away, she was almost... precious.

But his heart was filled with Sarah, and not even that tiny piece of her could make room in it. He walked back to Sarah while the rising sun drenched them both in red.

Her husband's blood on him, and now her daughter's. Both would get him what he wanted. What he needed.

He wanted Sarah.

He touched her once, his Sarah, just as she was waking— felt her smooth skin before he vanished into air. But his dark purpose lingered in the dying darkness: He would have her.

She would be his.

----Finis


	2. Chapter 1

"Cradle"

By Ellie

**A/N.) I received quite a few reviews for the one-shot that I did, entitled "Cradle." People seemed very interested in my darker portrayal of Jareth and a few of them mentioned their desire to see further development of the story. And now here I am. Lol. I am uploading this as a second chapter, but in truth I think of it as more of a slight "unofficial" continuation for those that seemed so interested in the one-shot. I do intend to add a little more to the story... but as I am nearing a very large move across country it may be a little while before anything is done about updating. That being said, I hope that you enjoy it. And know that without all of the comments from my readers I never would have continued this.**

* * *

Jessie didn't remember her Daddy. Her Mommy told her stories about him though. Mommy said that Jessie had his eyes.

Jessie looked into the mirror and stared at her eyes until they were blurry. They were the exact same color as the honey that Aunt Tera always put in tea. Jessie loved her eyes; they were from her Daddy. But when Madison and Jenny talked about their Daddies, Jessie's chest hurt. And sometimes she hated that she had her Daddy's eyes. Because she would have given them back if it meant she could have HIM.

Mommy was singing along to the radio. Jessie smelled dinner cooking. And as Jessie met her own gaze in the mirror she suddenly felt mean and angry.

"I wish I had a Daddy! A real Daddy, not just some stupid _eyes_!"

Sarah's smile froze and brittled. She stood in the doorway while her little girl screamed at herself in the mirror. And Sarah's heart broke a little more.

"Oh, baby. I know you do." The words tore themselves from her throat as she reached out to hold her child.

Jessie felt the meanness curling in her tummy push more words out: "He left us! He didn't love us! I want a _real_ Daddy! I do!"

Sarah held Jessie tight and tried to think past the sudden overwhelming loss that always streaked through her whenever Jessie asked about Ryan.

"Baby, I know that he would want to be with us. He wanted to be your Daddy, he just never had the chance." Sarah's hands ran through Jessie's dark hair and then smoothed down her heaving back.

"I don't care! I want a Daddy! I wish... I wish that I could go away! I wish that the goblins would take us away!"

The words. And what's said is said.

She scooped Jessie up and ran for the stairs. A desperate loop of panic and fear giving her speed: _Get Out. Get OUT. Get out, get out, get out._

Sarah's hand was on the doorknob when she realized that Jessie was speaking to her. "Mommy? Mommy what's wrong? Where are we going?"

Her hand clenched on the knob. What was she doing? Running into the night because her daughter had spoken words from her childhood? Nothing had happened. They were fine.

The Labyrinth wasn't real, just a childhood dream. The goblins were not coming for them. Just a story from a book.

Her brow furrowed. "Jessie, where did you hear that? Where did you hear about goblins?"

Jessie's big amber eyes met hers with a directness that unnerved most people.

"From the story Mommy. The one about the King and the Brave Girl."

Chills raced down her spine, "Jessie, I never told you that story. Where did you hear it?"

"I don't know."

"Think hard, honey. It's really important."

Jessie's eyes widened in fear as she pointed at the shadows past Sarah's shoulder.

Even while she turned, putting her body between the danger and her daughter, Sarah knew what was in the darkness. She knew who would step out of the shadows. Deep down, she _knew._

"The child's always known the story, Sarah." Jareth stepped out with a flourish of one gloved hand. His eyes met hers as he whispered a word that hovered between them: a Brave Woman and a Dark King.

"Always."

Jareth weaved a crystal through the air with a languid hand. Sarah waited for his offer while her pulse seemed to lodge in her throat. Her eyes tracked the winking globe with sudden desperation.

His voice held the cool disdain that she remembered, "Do you want this crystal Sarah? I'm afraid I have no intention of repeating my previous offer. Or didn't you realize?"

He stepped closer and his smile turned sinister even as his eyes seemed to drink her in, "Didn't you realize," He repeated. "That you're mine?"

She remembered trying to turn, trying to run from those hungry eyes. But then everything swirled and twisted until she didn't remember anything at all.

Not until she woke up covered in black satin sheets. Alone.

And she _knew_ that Jessie was with _him_. And a terror like nothing she had ever felt seemed to overtake her.

Dear god. Her child was with the Goblin King.

* * *


	3. Chapter 2

"Cradle"

By Ellie

Disclaimer: Still don't own squat.

_Author's Note_: I'm absolutely amazed that I'm doing this. REALLY I am. Because, you see, I was fairly certain that fanfic was very, very dead for me. And in truth, this may end up being a last hurrah- but nonetheless, here it is. Inspired by an email from **Fireflyjunction** and the fact that I already had part of this chapter written since last year.

* * *

Jessie didn't know what to do. She and Mommy had been in their house, right next to the front door, until a stranger had just appeared. And then they were gone, in a big smelly room that was made of stone. Or at least that was where Jessie was. She didn't know where her Mommy was. 

Now the man in black was just standing there... Not bringing her Mommy, just smiling at her. Jessie began to cry and scream for Sarah. Something about him wasn't _right._ Something about him was scarier than the things that every child knows lurks in the cracks under beds and inside closet doors. Something about him was scarier than the monsters.

His eyes narrowed, Angry. He was angry. Jessie tried to run.

"Shhhhhhhhh." Leather-covered fingers along her skin, a voice in her ears: "Remember now, little girl... Remember."

And Jessie fell, dizzy, into the sound of her captor's voice.

* * *

Sarah flung the cool fabric up and away. _Jessie. Oh, god. He had Jessie. _She half-slid, half-scrambled off of the dark pool of bed she had awoken in, falling to icy marbled floors with a jolt to her ankles that had her lurching painfully to the side. 

The room was unrelieved black—not a hint of color to be found anywhere. Sarah felt a flare of righteous fury and stomach-numbing disgust after realizing that she, too, had been robbed of color. She was clothed in a swatch of black silk that might have been laughingly related to nightwear. The fact that she wore nothing beneath the silk but clammy skin was just another nail in Jareth's coffin. Or so she told herself, over and over, as she paced the black floors and along the black curtained walls of her exquisite prison. She tried to hold onto every drop of fiery anger to pit against the icy gut-wrenching terror of knowing that Jessie was apart from her. That her child was alone, and that she was with _him._

No doors, no windows, no escape. And Jessie was gone. Sarah's eyes burned sickly with fear and defiance as she began to rip the curtains from the walls with white-knuckled hands. And then she began to scream: "JARETH! Let me OUT! Let me OUT, you BASTARD! WHERE IS SHE! Let me OUT!"

* * *

Strips of gauzy black fabric rent the air as Sarah's rage carried her from wall to wall, tearing at the curtains with her nails. The passionate fury of her emotions painted her with dangerous beauty. She was a goddess in her anger. Not a goddess of love, or light, or laughter. A goddess of pain and blood and revenge. A goddess that you prayed to when there was nothing left but to embrace death, or inflict it. 

It delighted him, seeing her burn so dark. She was becoming more his already. He watched her rage through the room until nothing but destruction lay in her wake. He watched her scream herself hoarse, cursing him until exhaustion forced her into a sweaty, bloody tangle on the floor.

And when her body finally shut down, and after hours of merely watching, Jareth brought himself to her room and whispered a spell into the air. The room repaired itself, as did the torn fingernails of Sarah's hands, and the bruises that blushed along her ivory skin.

The bed that she had done her best to rip apart was perfect once again, and Jareth considered it and then dismissed it, leaving Sarah huddled on the floor to glow palely against the dark shine of stone. He lifted the spell of sleep that he had woven into her mind while he settled back into his throne and watched as she shivered in her sleep.

A battle warred in Jareth's eyes as the cruel lines of his face stretched themselves taut. He gestured as he stalked from the throne room, negligently smashing the crystal into dust as he headed toward the wing of his castle housing his second captive. Sarah's _Jessie._ Now, his. They would both be his before the end.

* * *

The bedroom was fit for a princess. Everything a child could want or desire seemed to be tucked into the huge space- among jeweled tables and miniature vanities and elaborate wardrobes. A little girl's dream—dipped in red and rolled in jems. 

Just as Sarah's room was black was Jessie's room red. Yes, it was a room for a princess, but not a princess of pastels and pinks. It was a room for heat and temper and selfishness—It was a room for Jareth's princess.

He stood beside the bed that Jessie slept in—saw her tucked amidst the grandeur of silks and satins and furs as he felt the lingering touch of his magic permeate from her skin like perfume. She was now truly _his. _

Slowly, with gentle fingers, he brushed Jessie's hair from her eyes, and though he didn't realize it, he began to hum a lullaby to the sleeping child.

* * *

Across the castle, locked into the death-like sleep of the mentally and physically exhausted, Sarah lay wrapped in a soft fur atop an enormous black bed.

* * *

Jessie dreamed of her Daddy. Of his deep velvet voice that wrapped around her, protecting her, loving her... And so she slept. 


	4. Chapter 3

"Cradle"

By Ellie

_**Author's Note:**_ I don't own "Labyrinth" in case you missed the obvious. And if you're reading this than you owe it to Aimee from for reviewing and incidentally reminding me that I had part of this chapter written.

Also! This was beta'd by my pal Baloo extreeeemely early in the morning. Any further glaring errors are my own fault—so there! Hehe.

* * *

When Sarah awoke her first, almost childish, sleepy thought was wonder at where the pain had gone. She had felt as though she had been drowning in it until the stormy black waves of draining exhaustion had crashed over her.

It didn't take long before she realized that there was a perfectly good reason why she was no longer in pain. She had been... healed. At least physically, as there was nothing Jareth's damn magic could do to touch upon the riotous wellspring of emotions she harbored for the one who had stolen her child and caged her in her silken prison.

The room that she had done her damnedest to destroy was, once again, restored to its dark glory. And if she hadn't known, to the marrow of her bones, that she had spent hours savaging it, she may have been inclined to believe her earlier violence a dream. Or perhaps, taking into account her current location, a nightmare.

Anger pitted into a hard knot in her stomach as her fingers clenched in the fur wrapped around her. Her hands longed to scratch and claw at the one who had dared to separate her from her child. Magic or no, she swore to herself that she would find Jessie, even if she had to kill Jareth to do it.

As though her bloodthirsty thoughts had summoned him, Jareth was suddenly there, merely feet away from the platform of the bed and clothed in black from head to toe, blending into his surroundings so that only the pale skin of his face and the halo of his fair hair stood out in the shadow-laden room.

Sarah immediately began to struggle with throwing the substantial weight of the fur off her body, her eyes locked onto Jareth as rage misted her vision, "You BASTARD. Where's Jessie? Where is she?"

His voice cut through the air with a chillingly playful edge, "Your_ Jessie _is where I left her." He strode to the bed and with a flick of the arm, had Sarah uncovered. She immediately leapt at him, terror and anger overriding sense as she lashed out at him by the only means left to her.

Jareth dodged her nails and teeth with a patronizing laugh, infuriating her to the point of stupidity as she screamed in frustration and renewed her attempts with vigor and animalistic fury.

His eyes sparkled as he pinned her to the enormous bed, forcing her with his body to submit. She recognized that dark glint in his eyes for what it was: pleasure.

Sarah's skin was damp with exertion, she was wearing practically nothing, and the entire time she had been focused on destroying him he had been enjoying himself as she plastered herself against him.

Seething, she forced herself to lie submissively against the mattress, though her thoughts burned with malice against the man—no, the _being_ —that had her pinned like a butterfly in that room that was leached of all but darkness.

"Has all the fury left you then, little Sarah?" Jareth's voice mimicked the sing-song quality of adult to child and Sarah's anger kindled fire-bright in her eyes as she clamped her mouth shut and glared up at him.

He met her gaze and watched flames curl deep in those green depths.

"Ah, I see that it has not. What a pity, I was rather enjoying the thought of you yielding and pliant beneath me." Lightning-fast he leaned forward and licked a line of wet heat up Sarah's taut neck.

She lunged forward once more, hell-bent on doing her best to take a chunk out of him even if she had to resort to biting him since her arms were pinned.

But he was gone.

"DAMMIT, Jareth!" Her body heaved as adrenaline and righteous fury pounded through her to the beat of some tribal song. She pushed herself off of the bed and whipped around searching for any sign of him.

His only answer was a delighted chuckle from a far corner of the room.

Sarah stalked towards the sound and realized that an open stone archway had appeared against the billowing curtains leading out of the room, into a hall of opulent red. She peered into the hall and noticed that strange markings glittered against the rich vibrancy of the walls. Sarah ignored them as she sprinted from her glistening black prison and into color.

* * *

Jareth watched as Sarah ran down the long hall and toward the room where her sleeping daughter lay. He considered activating the runes of the wall and seeing what his little Sarah would make of them, but ultimately decided against it.

Better to let her get to her darling little girl. Better for her to finally see that she and that pitiful excuse for a man were not the only ones that had a hand in _darling _Jessie's creation. The child wasn't flesh of his flesh, true, but she was a part of him now, and to his delight and Sarah's inevitable horror, he was most definitely a part of_ her_.

* * *

Sarah followed the winding corridor at a sprightly pace, the markings on the wall speeding her along. She found them ominous in a way that she couldn't quite pinpoint, but it was enough of a feeling for her to listen to the little voice in her head that warned her to hurry.

As she reached the end of the corridor she felt a resurgence of anger as another stone archway loomed before her. If it had been another of his sick_ games _and she was back where she started she wouldn't wait for a kindly worm to point her in the right direction. She would just scream. And just maybe she wouldn't stop. And wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't that be a grand gesture to reciprocate with? After all, she was at the edge of completely losing her mind, who was to stop her from tipping those last few inches over?

Her dark glee was cut short as a face loomed in her mind:

Jessie.

So with her daughter's face in her thoughts Sarah clung to the fringes of sanity and walked through the archway.

* * *

Sarah stepped from a red hall into a sparkling parody of every little girl's dream room—if the little girl in question had all the money in the universe and nothing better to do with it than buy priceless gems and adorn everything from the ceiling to the bedposts with them.

The room was the same bright red as the halls, and in it lay every item a little girl could ever desire. There was even a carousel in the corner that sparkled with gleams of gold-leaf and cold diamond eyes.

And in the middle of the glittering masses of toys and miniature furniture was a huge canopied bed with a tiny sleeping figure nestled beneath opulent blankets and throws.

Jessie.

"JESSIE!" With a wild sob, Sarah threw herself to her knees next to her sleeping child and snatched her daughter into her desperate arms.

* * *

Jessie blinked sleepily up at the dark-haired woman holding her so tightly. She looked like a pretty enough lady, but she shouldn't be _touching _her, let alone squeezing the breath right out of her!

"Let me go." Her voice was firm with a haughty little emphasis that she knew her Daddy would be proud of.

Where was her Daddy anyways? He was supposed to be here! Her face took on a tiny scowl.

The dark-haired lady had stopped squeezing her so tight, but she still hadn't let_ go_. Jessie squinted up into the lady's green eyes and felt a weird little _something _squeeze at her heart. But it went away soon enough and Jessie felt her unhappiness gathering around her fingers until there was a light pop and she clutched a crystal in her red-gloved hand.

With a wish and a flash of anger Jessie dropped the crystal and let it smash into bits of twisting magic that twined around the lady and pushed her away.

"Who are you?" Jessie's voice was cold with indifference and in her displeasure she failed to see the pretty lady's heart freeze and then break into thousands of icy shards to the glistening red floor.

Sarah felt the last dregs of reality yank out from under her as she looked into the eyes of her baby. Her _baby _that was looking imperiously up at her with absolutely no recognition.

Sarah's world slipped into nothing as Jessie suddenly shrieked with delight as Jareth appeared and she ran into his arms crying one word:

"Daddy!"

* * *

_**PS: **_ If you figured out my not-so-veiled reference to one of my older fanfics than kudos to you!


	5. In The Dreaming

"Cradle"

By Ellie

**A/N)** Don't own Labyrinth. :)

* * *

**IN THE DREAMING **

* * *

Sarah felt herself being pulled inexorably from the dark velvet of sleep and back into the waking world. Her mouth popped open in an enormous yawn as her body stretched itself into a long supine arch. 

As she stretched, Sarah felt her questing fingers brush against something even smoother than the soft casing of her down pillow and she forced her weighted eyelids to open.

The pale moonflower gave off a luminescent glow and a heady scent that made everything seem vaguely dreamy. Sarah inhaled and felt the warmth of the moonflower's magic take its sweet hold over her, painting the room with a haze of gold around the edges… like a perfect memory come to life, or the gilt edging of a picture frame.

She left the delicate gift on her pillow, slipping on fur-lined slippers before hurrying through the stone archway that opened to the gardens. It was there, she knew, that he would be waiting.

Tiny effervescent lights of every color sparkled among the flowers that sprung from almost every available surface of the garden. She looked toward the very end of the garden. He was there. Among the moonflowers that grew wild along the border of the Castle and the Labyrinth.

Sarah's feet stepped nimbly from the pale white paving stones of the twisting garden path to the riotous spring of blooms that half-covered the barely discernible path that jutted off of the first and led to the edge of the Castle's grounds.

Sarah finally reached the edge of the property, where the flowers seemed to halt into a distinct boundary between Castle and Maze. Stooping, she plucked a stray moonflower from the earth before striding toward the opening of the thick green hedges that made up the magical Labyrinth.

An elaborate gate of wrought iron blocked the entrance to the maze. Or perhaps it was the exit. Sarah's brow furrowed as she thought. Where is the beginning or end of a maze? Is it where you end up or where you started? A light pain began to throb from behind her temples and Sarah brought one hand up to rub at it when she heard his voice…

"There you are, my Love." The fair-haired man smiled and lifted his hand to cup the side of her face in gloved fingers, "I had wondered if you would come."

Her pain was forgotten as Sarah felt her heart leap with feeling for him. She opened her mouth to say his name. To tell him of the love that fairly burst from her lungs with each breath she took, but as she met his eyes she forgot the name she had meant to call him. Other words came to her, love words, words of affection or passion. Yet, the only true name that came to her mind was: _Goblin King_.

"My dear, you look startled," His voice broke through her reverie.

Sarah blinked up at him, studying the planes of his face, the jutting cheekbones and the pale, pale skin. He was beautiful. And she loved him so much… But something was missing…Something important.

Goblin King combed his fingers through her hair and leaned close enough to tease her nostrils with his scent. Sarah felt herself fall down, down as her Love leaned even closer and feathered his lips across her own. She landed secure in his arms, swimming in passion for the man she could only remember as Goblin King.

Jareth held her against him, felt her tremble with love for _him_, only for him. He brushed her fingers through his hair and kissed her harder. She was his love, she was his life… She was _his_. She was his and he was hers.

A flash of magic had them back in the bedroom; she laughed as she discovered herself falling back into bed, her green eyes alight with joy and love.

She moaned as he tasted the flesh of her collar bone, her gaze turning alluringly wicked as he scraped his teeth lightly across her neck before nuzzling into the hair behind her ear.

These perfect moments of ardor and complete, encompassing, love had been worth the small price he had paid for them.

Words held power in the Underground.

Jareth looked at the angel in his arms and named her "Love," for there was no other name he could think to call her.

**PS) _If you're incredibly confused hang with me. It's supposed to be a little jarring. And everything will eventually be explained._**


End file.
